It was only a few months ago that Google finally updated its long-neglected News and Weather app, sometimes called the Genie widget because of the package name. Today there's already a sizeable update for the app that brings a new dark theme, material animations, search, and more.

We’re coming up on the 6-month anniversary of the shutdown of Google Reader; and while some people might still be a little jaded about losing the beloved service, most have moved on to one of the many alternatives that popped up to replace it. Several great feed aggregators exist, many offering innovative improvements over Reader, but their mobile apps may not fit your needs. The developer of gReader, noinnion, intends to solve that with the release of News+, a feature-rich and very customizable news reader app with support for several services.

There are no shortage of dedicated news apps available in the Play Store, but the Google News mobile site is about to get a revamp for all the people who rely on it to get their daily fix. With the update, the aging website will finally make the jump into the post-Ice Cream Sandwich era of Android.

Google Now has evolved into a surprisingly great contextual search and information system, but it still relies on user information for most of its content. According to a recent interview with Google's VP of search and assist Johanna Wright, that may be changing. QZ.com spoke to Wright, who let a few details on the possible addition of a local news card for Now.

One thing we’re testing right now is a very local hyper-local news card,” says Wright.